One year on from Tom Pidcock’s nadir at Ineos Grenadiers, the 26-year-old returns to the race that finally spelled the end of his difficult relationship with the British team. When he spoke to The Independent earlier this year, he would not be drawn on that episode, with only a wry chuckle betraying any hint of emotion about it. But he admitted that he had a “point to prove” earlier in the season, amid plenty of lively debate over his move to lower-tier team Q36.5. There could be no better place to hammer the point home than in Lombardy this weekend.
This time last year Pidcock was enjoying a fine run of late-season form, finishing second at the Giro dell’Emilia, one of a series of autumnal one-day races building up to the year’s final Monument, Il Lombardia. He was second only to Tadej Pogacar, so essentially the best of the mere mortals.
